Asherons Call: Jessica Makes a Pretty Important Announcement

[i]Alchemy Crucible Bug: Additionally, we found a problem with the new alchemy crucible. The crucibles, when combined with potions, afford a new version that represents the potion within the crucible. We've found that it is possible to sell this object within the game, and have taken steps to ensure that this will no longer be possible. As of the coming hot fix, crucibles in any adjusted form will no longer be sellable.

The Duplication Bug: This one is nastier and is going to require more stringent measures, which is the reason for the hot fix on Tuesday. We know what the bug is and we've reproduced it inhouse. It is your basic dupe bug, allowing items to be duplicated and passed around or sold. I won't go into an explanation of the process; those who don't know about it don't need to know, and those who do know about it - also known as "exploiters" and by less savory terms - are already using it. What those latter people don't know is this:

We've been keeping logs.

We're going through the logs and, sad to say, some accounts have contracted the terminal version of the duping disease and there will soon be some deaths in our little online family. Everyone knows that duping is wrong and a violation of the Code of Conduct. In the past, the policy has been lenient, endowing dupers with punishment as horrific as a 1 or 3 day ban and similar Inquisition-like tortures. As of today, all that changes; the silk gloves come off and the iron gauntlets go on. From now on, the punishment is permanent and lasting.

Be Warned: Anyone caught intentionally duping can and will be permanently banned from the game.

There will be no reprieves, as happened in the past. A permanent ban for duping means just that - permanent. For those who think they can get a weekend of duping in before the hot fix goes live: read above about the logs. If you think I will be reversing myself on this, as others have done in the past: dream on. In case anyone didn't get the message: We are going to start enforcing the permanent ban for duping, and we're keeping logs of the activity, If you are so stupid as to dupe after this warning...

Speed Hack Program Use on Darktide: There have been plenty of complaints about people using GEAR and similar speed hack programs to gain an unfair advantage in PvP combat on Darktide. On Tuesday, all of that changes. The auto-detection and enforcement for speed hacks will be turned on for Darktide during the hot fix. When a speed hack is detected, the following process will take place:

The First Three Detections: You will be booted offline and a message will display that you have been detected using a speed hack. The message will give an email address you can write for more information, if you wish.

The Fourth Detection: You will be booted offline and given a one day ban.

Detections Five and Greater: You will be booted offline and give a 3 day ban for each detection above the fourth one. This means that, basically, anyone who gets to the fifth detection and insists on continuing to use a speed hack will get to play about 2 minutes per week.

As part of this effort, we will be cleaning out the detection list on Tuesday and resetting to zero everyone's speed hack detection count on Darktide. Everyone starts with a clean slate. What happens after that is up to you.

And since we'll be activating Player Killer Lite soon, we'll be turning on speed hack detection on the other servers soon, too. Be warned.

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